It wouldn’t be Christmas without Mariah Carey on the radio.
And this year it is not just her festive hit All I Want For Christmas that will feature, as the singer herself will present her own show on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day from 7:00pm.
To mark the 30th anniversary of her 1994 festive classic, the American pop-star will feature as part of the BBC radio’s Christmas schedule.
During the pre-recorded festive hour, Carey will thank listeners for their support over the years and will play Christmas classics from artists who have inspired her including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston.
When Carey’s classic Christmas hit was released in 1994, it was beaten to the Christmas number one slot by East 17’s Stay Another Day.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without Mariah Carey on the radio. And this year it is not just her festive hit All I Want For Christmas that will feature, as the singer herself will present her own show on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day from 7:00pm
To mark the 30th anniversary of her 1994 festive classic, the American pop-star will feature as part of the BBC radio’s Christmas schedule
But in December 2020, 26 years after it was first released it finally reached number one, and achieved the feat again in 2022.
Carey is not the only American superstar to appear on the BBC’s festival line up.
The I Got You Babe singer Cher will reveal some of her favourite tracks as she is cast away on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on December 15.
There will be some British presenters on BBC radio over the festive period.
Absolutely Fabulous stars Jennifer Saunders, Dame Joanna Lumley, Jane Horrocks and Julia Sawalha will join together to discuss the hit 1990s sitcom and its recent reunion special with presenter Kirsty Wark for BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Day.
BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Zoe Ball, who announced this week she would be stepping back from the role in December after six years, will be serving up some of her favourite crooners, such as Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, on Christmas Eve from midday to 2pm and from 6am to 8am on Christmas Day.
The Official Christmas number one will be announced on BBC Radio 1 on December 20 by Jack Saunders.
In August, Carey announced her Carey’s Christmas Time Tour, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her mega-holiday-hit.
When Carey’s classic Christmas hit was released in 1994, it was beaten to the Christmas number one slot by East 17’s Stay Another Day
But in December 2020, 26 years after it was first released it finally reached number one, and achieved the feat again in 2022
The five-time Grammy-winner kicked off the concert tour on November 6 in Highland, California. She will perform the tour’s final show on December 17 in Brooklyn, New York.
The setlist boasts an impressive 26 songs and typically runs about 90 minutes in which she vocalizes a mix of holiday classics with modern twists and her greatest hits.
Every night, she closes out the show with her 1994 hit All I Want For Christmas is You — which is dubbed as the most popular holiday song in the world.
Last November, Carey opened up about the real history behind her famous track which she composed with 66-year-old Brazilian songwriter Walter Afanasieff.
She told Parade: ‘I started writing that on a little DX7 or Casio keyboard that was in this little room in the house that I lived in at the time in Upstate New York lifetimes ago.
‘Just writing down everything that I thought about. All the things that reminded me of Christmas that made me feel festive that I wanted other people to feel.’